A time capsule sealed by a bank in 1916 was opened in Saratoga Springs , New Yorkthis week . And it has many of the things you ’d anticipate — like some photograph of the town , a missive from the prexy of the camber in 1916 , and some sure-enough coin . But one artifact stuck out as singular to the onlookers of 2016 : A 10 - cent notice .
Paper bills with values of less than a dollar were n’t common in the United States in 1916 . In fact , they only really proliferated during and now following the Civil War in the 1860s . So when the abridgement - God Almighty of 1916 included this 10 - cent note , they were let in something that was already an antique to them .
It ’s not immediately clear , but the annotation let in in the capsule looks to be from the 1870s . The man featured on it is William M. Meredith ( 1799 - 1873 ) , the Secretary of the Treasury during the Taylor presidency from 1849 until 1850 .
The bank prexy of 1916 hoped that the community of interests would continue with , “ respectfulness for the law , respect for the community , and respect for the the great unwashed who sour for the bank . ” He also call that the world would see “ wonderful promotion ” by the clip the capsule was opened .
The coin bank plans to interchange the cornerstone abridgment with a raw meter capsule sometime this year . The current president of the bank will let in his own letter of the alphabet to the time to come , though he does n’t believe we ’ll be using paper money by the sentence the capsule is opened . And candidly , a lot of people do n’t use much cash today . I inquire how he can admit a Venmo transaction instead .
[ WNYT ]
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